These carvings are from around late 1970's and early 1980's.
Taiwan harvested an enormous amounts of coral in those days.
That has now been restricted with set quotas in order to protect the coral reefs and make coral harvesting a sustainable industry. In 2014 Taiwan restricted the harvesting of Coral to 6,000 kg per year.
By the time this is processed into beads, cabochons and carvings, the weight and number of Coral items getting to the market is drastically reduced.
This has caused a huge shortfall in the market and this shortfall has since been replaced with a flood of so-called "natural", "untreated" Coral imitations like bamboo, resins, re-constituted Coral. (Re-constituted coral is rubbish coral crushed into powder, colouring added, then mixed with a resin and after which can then be made into beads, cabochons and other items.)
The colour of these imitations are usually a blood red to imitate Oxblood Coral. Anything claimed to be Natural Coral and which has a perfectly uniform colour all over should be viewed with care, especially if it appears to be a bargain.
LOOKING FOR SOMETHING IN CORAL THAT YOU CAN'T FIND IN OUR SHOP? PLEASE CONTACT US!
Interestingly, what many are not aware of, Australia also allow for coral to be harvested, but under very strict regulations and quotas.
